Exactly how I feel, Dudette, but I’ve been complaining all morning, so I decided to bite my lips this time. Every time I feel I’m almost caught up *someone* jumpstarts a new thread. I’ve been trying not to think ‘aloud’ – “Woot, I’m almost caught up!” so that my mental jubilation won’t tip off whoever is posting, but that didn’t work.

I will not recover from today’s delectables, so, could you give us that picture of President Obama getting out of the Beast with his sunglasses on. That is another favorite. Put them together; the Beast and the Plane.

I can handle it – I am renting a defibulator thingy for emergency moments such as this. : )

To be honest, I think there is manipulation of these Twitter trending hashtags. Mark my word: You would NEVER, ever see #CancelJonStewart on Twitter regardless of what he says or does on his show. The powers that be want Colbert out because he is more of threat to their status quo than Stewart – he’s very supportive of PBO and his policies and has been at WH events as a personally invited guest. So they will use any crap to trash him.

They’re going to be the subject of an experiment for which they are uniquely qualified. Scott will spend that year on the space station so scientists can study the effects of living long-term in zero gravity on the human body. Mark will stay home on the ground and be the control subject for comparison. Pretty cool!

I do not want to be culturally insensitive, so I’ll just say that the contrast of the business-suited PBO and the rest of the U S delegation with the robed and festooned Saudis say much about both countries.

I’m not that hopeful: Following his stroke my twit of a senator, Mark Kirk, is ONLY concerned that Medicaid patients get more physical therapy after a stroke. he couldn’t care less about anyone else’s health care needs.

The thing is lawmakers shouldn’t have to personally experience all the problems as their constituents do, before they will care enough to actually work to solve problems that affect them:

I’m not starving today or unemployed, but I can see there are members our society who just need a hand up from time to time. I also know that businesses thrive when they have customers who can afford to pay for their goods and services, so everybody wins when we invest in the community.

I’m not an undocumented immigrant, but I know society reaps the benefit of their presence here and that we’re all better off when people can come out of the shadows and participate fully in society.

I have no kids of my own, but I know my community and the country is better off when the kids in the school down the street are getting a good education, in a safe environment and they should have opportunities to make a decent life for themselves when they finish school.

I’m not gay or transgender, but I know our constitution says all citizens are entitled to equal protection under the law and to the pursuit of happiness. If we don’t adhere to those ideals, that then document isn’t worth the paper isn’t printed on and we can’t say we live under the rule of law.

It’s not rocket science. It just requires understanding that government is there to serve We The People. Anybody who doesn’t get that doesn’t deserve the honor of governing.

Meet the Republican Lawmaker who opposed chemotherapy treatment coverage till she got cancer. All the reason why they ought to understand why everyone need health insurance, because you never know when you can be dealt a health crisis you and your family will have to deal with.

The real reason why this #cancelcolbert hashtag is trending on Twitter is not because someone accidentally thought he had made a racist joke. No, it’s because he was at the WH state dinner main table last month when the French President visited and he has long been an open and CONSISTENT supporter of PBO (unlike jon Stewart his primary rival, who is beholden to emoprogery and Obama-bashing bandwagon). The powers that be needed to find a way to damage his reputation and diminish him in some way, and they think they found a golden opportunity. You may think I’m wearing tinfoil, but I know exactly what I’m talking about.

Stephen Colbert will remain where he is. At a WHCD in 2006/2007, many tried to get him canned for his performance was 1001% dead on and target at GW Bush. He had bad publicity and he survived. That was before the Twitter Crazy was in Vogue.

I have been giving updates on the enrollment effort in Oregon periodically. Despite the technical problems Cover Oregon, the state exchange continues to enroll people at a good rate. The exchange has not enrolled 175K, 52K priv. plans, and 123K Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid). An additional 125K have been auto-enrolled by the Oregon health Authority in the Oregon Health Plan, so there are now about 280K newly insured thanks to #ACA . But there will be more. Oregon has been granted an additional 30 day extension to catch up. I’ve been volunteering to enroll mental health patients through the Psychiatric Crisis Center with Marion Co. Health Dept. (Over half of their patients have had no coverage at all.) The website for Cover Oregon is now able to do most of the application and enrollment online now. But applicants can also enroll directly with insurance companies who can also determine eligibility for subsidies. And many are enrolling through Community Partners and certified ins agents and brokers. Cover Oregon has a new Ad they are running to publicize this new 30 day period:

********************************
MORE TIME TO APPLY!
Extended application period through April 30

As many of you have already heard, Oregonians now have an additional month to apply for private health insurance. The new deadline to apply is April 30. This will give people who have not yet applied for coverage through Cover Oregon more time.

As we mentioned, there have been more than 175,000 enrollments through Cover Oregon so far and you have all been crucial to that achievement. And now with the extended application period, we can help even more Oregonians get the coverage they need.

Please share this new application deadline with your community. More information about the extended application period is available on resources.coveroregon.com/new-deadline-QA.html.

AD CAMPAIGN
Outreach & ad campaign reaching Oregonians yet to apply

In addition to the extended application period, Cover Oregon also began an outreach campaign that includes television and digital ads targeted for people who have not yet applied. The goal is to target people who are deadline driven, who may have been waiting for the full website, and younger Oregonians. You can view the ads on the Cover Oregon YouTube page.

The campaign highlights Oregonians who have successfully enrolled in coverage and calls on people who need coverage to apply now either through an agent or community partners or independently, using the hybrid process. Cover Oregon also has a new video on its website to show how the hybrid process works.

The key outreach messages are:
Don’t wait – Apply now and here’s how
More than 175,000 Oregonians have enrolled in health care coverage
Most Cover Oregon customers have received a tax credit. Find out what you qualify for

SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT
New tax credit option for small businesses

The Governor also announced that qualified Oregon small business owners will have access to more affordable health insurance for their employees. Through an arrangement with participating insurance companies, qualified small business that purchase a Cover Oregon certified plan directly from an insurance company can benefit from federal tax credits. The tax credits will offset premium costs for employers who provide health insurance to their employees.

The arrangement allows small businesses to access the tax credits for 2014 without having to wait for small-group features to be available on Cover Oregon’s website. Find out more on how this process will work at resources.coveroregon.com/smallbusiness.

Correction: the sentence in the first paragraph should read.. ” The exchange has NOW enrolled 175K, 52K priv. plans, and 123K Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid). An additional 125K have been auto-enrolled by the Oregon health Authority in the Oregon Health Plan, ” The darn autocorrect sometimes does weird things. But I should double check to proof what I write also.

CNN morning show New Day sent out a tweet this morning reading “#BREAKING: Brazilian former soccer player Pele dies at 74.” The death report appears to have just been a rumor and nothing more, and after reporting it CNN quickly retracted it.

This is from DU. What do you see? Two different stories, two different memes. One fucked up MSM

Consumer Sentiment Lowest In Four Months
7 min ago – WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A gauge of consumer sentiment declined in March to the lowest level in four months, led by gloomier expectations, according to data released Friday morning. The consumer-sentiment gauge reached a final March reading of 80 … (MarketWatch)

Consumer Spending in U.S. Increases by Most in Three Months
12 min ago – By Victoria Stilwell Mar 28, 2014 12:29 PM ET Consumer spending climbed in February by the most in three months as a pickup in incomes (PITLCHNG) encouraged Americans to return to stores after a harsh winter held the economy back. Household purchas … (Bloomberg)

Notwithstanding certain pictures shown above, I am introducing the topic of Gov. Christie, the one who was walking from NJ straight to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, WA, DC. He has just given a news conference which I missed. Has anyone seen it?

But I captured that his protégé and loyal friend David Samson has given his resignation.

2:35 p.m. ET: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie began his first news conference since January 9 by saying Friday that the chairman of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, David Samson, has resigned in the aftermath of a report on the controversial closing of traffic lanes on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge last September.

that is not the right question…the question should be …will he press find out the truth about what happened and why..Will Chistie and his andminstration be held accountable for the apparent corruption and incompetence???

Ladyhawke, thanks for the article. The timing to leave was now, said Samson. I can understand that, since he made a lot of money for him and his friends. With the scrutiny now covering the PA, it makes sense to jump ship.